Alan Caruba's blog is a daily look at events, personalities, and issues from an independent point of view. Copyright, Alan Caruba, 2015. With attribution, posts may be shared. A permission request is welcome. Email acaruba@aol.com.

Sunday, July 13, 2014

Mexico is Deliberately Aiding Illegal Aliens

By Alan
Caruba

It no
doubt strikes a lot of Americans as odd that a U.S. Marine reservist, Sgt.
Andrew Tahmooressi, a 25 year old California native who had served two tours of
duty in Afghanistan, was arrested in March for illegally entering Mexico when
he made a wrong turn in Tijuana. Being in possession of registered firearms, about
which he informed the customs officials, didn’t help. He is still in jail while
awaiting a court judgment.

The fact
is that Mexico’s illegal immigration laws are a lot tougher than those of the
U.S. Under Mexican law, illegal immigration is a felony, punishable by up to
two years in prison. Immigrants who are deported and attempt to re-enter can be
jailed for ten years. Visa violators can be sentenced for six-year terms and
Mexicans who help illegal immigrants are considered to be criminals.

It doesn’t
end there. Under Mexican law, foreigners can be deported if they are deemed
detrimental to “economic or national interests”, violate Mexican law, are not
“physically or mentally healthy”, or lack the “necessary funds for their
sustenance.” This applies to their dependents as well.

Somehow,
though, thousands of “migrants” from nations to the south of Mexico are passing
through to get to our border and are, in the process, no less illegal in Mexico
than here. That has changed, however. On July 9,
the Examiner reported that Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto had met with
Guatemalan president Otto Perez Molina and they held a joint press conference
to “officially announce an agreement to make it easier for those making the
illegal journey to the United States from Central American, to cross into
Mexico.” They will be issued a “Regional Visitor’s Card” that allows them to
stay in Mexico for 72 hours, just long enough to make it to the U.S. border.
The arrangement will include Belize as well. No doubt it will be extended to
San Salvador and Honduras.

I have no doubt this has the blessing
of the White House. The result is a deliberate program to alter the demographic
map of America, increasing the number of Hispanics. It is an illegal assault on
the nation, a “transformation” few Americans could ever imagine.

The
popular notion is that it has been Mexico’s rural poor that have been eager to
come here. The fifth largest country in the Americas, it has a population of
more than 113 million and one of the world’s largest economies as the tenth
largest oil producer in the world and the largest producer of silver. Mexico is
home to the sixth largest electronics industry in the world and it produces the
most automobiles of any North American nation. General Motors, Ford, and
Chrysler have had plants in Mexico since the 1930s and Nissan and Volkswagen
built plants there in the 1960s.

Mexico is regarded
as a firmly established upper middle-income nation, but somewhere between 35%
to 46% of the population, about 52 million persons, are regarded to be living
in extreme to moderate poverty. It is that population that represents the bulk
of the illegal aliens who enter the U.S. They send remittances back to Mexico
estimated to be $25 billion, but that represents 0.2% of its GDP.

In 2004
the Center for Immigration Studies released a study that found that illegal
alien households were estimated to use $2,700 in services than they pay in
taxes, creating a fiscal burden of nearly $10.4 billion on the 2002 federal
budget. That, no doubt, has increased over the past decade. Among the federal
costs are Medicaid, treatment for the uninsured, food assistance programs, the
federal prison and court systems, and federal aid to schools. Illegals
generally lack a level of education and hold jobs that represent low levels of
skill.

To put it
mildly, Mexico is happy to export its own citizens to become illegal aliens in
the United States and now, thanks to President Obama’s policies, so do
Honduras, San Salvador, and Guatemala. It's worth noting that the children of illegals are awarded
American citizenship at birth under current law.

In 2005,
writing in The Washington Times on “Border policy perplexities, Stephen Johnson,
a senior policy analyst for Latin America at the Heritage Foundation, noted
that “Mexican oligarchs see free movement northward as a safety valve to
relieve pressure from a million workers entering Mexico’s labor force with no
job prospects. Rather than liberalize their economy to end corrupt monopolies,
strengthen property rights and establish the rule of law, they would rather
keep things as they are and merely ship their jobless, poorly educated throngs
north.”

With 92
million Americans out of work or who have ceased looking, it is little wonder
that there is little sympathy for Mexicans and others who illegally enter the
nation. Even so, there is outrage that so many are now children and that
President Obama could not stir himself from a schedule of fund raisers to visit
the border or one of the detention centers to house them.

According
to a 2012 estimate of the Homeland Security Department, there were approximately
11.5 million illegal immigrants in the U.S. by the end of 2011. As reported in
The Washington Times in March 2012, “Of the current illegal population, only
14% have entered the U.S. since 2005. That means the vast majority have been in
the country for years, putting down the kind of roots that immigrant-rights
advocates say should earn them the change to achieve citizenship. Those
favoring stricter enforcement balk at that, saying it amounts to rewarding
those who have broken the law the longest.”

Mexicans
still account for most of the illegal aliens at 6.8 million or 59%. If they
were living illegally in Mexico, they would be deported. Moreover, illegals
from other nations such as China and from the Mideast are also passing through
without the Mexican legal system taking any notice of them.

The
current “humanitarian crisis” has sharpened the political divisions between
those who want to build a big wall to keep out all illegals and those who want
to extend amnesty to those who have been living here for several years. The
recent defeat of the House Majority Leader, Eric Cantor, (R-VA) has signaled
the growing opposition to policies that facilitate illegal immigration.

What is clear, however, is that Mexico,
in addition to its double standard regarding aliens who enter it, is now
actively engaging what should be called an act of war.

America is
already in deep financial debt. It cannot afford to absorb and pay for
thousands of illegal aliens. Laws have to be changed. Fences need to be built
and the border needs aggressive patrol. The alternative is to begin referring
to the United States of America as the Estados Unidos.

About Me

I am and have been for a long time a writer by profession. I have several books to my credit and my daily column, "Warning Signs", is disseminated on many Internet news and opinion websites, as well as blogs. In addition, I am a longtime book reviewer and have a blog offering a monthly report on new fiction and non-fiction.